1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to a pachinko game, and more particularly to a pachinko game in which the values of the scoring slots change with each game.
2. Description of the Prior Art
The game of the present invention is based on the well-known game that normally goes by the name of pachinko. Pachinko involves a vertical playing field that has a glass cover plate and a solid back wall. A plurality of deflection pins or pegs extend at right angles from the back wall to the glass cover plate. A disk, coin, token, ball or other scoring device is dropped through a slot at the top of the playing surface and bounces back and forth between the deflection pins as it falls toward the bottom of the playing surface. Along the bottom of the playing surface are a plurality of scoring slots. The player scores points corresponding to the value assigned to the particular scoring slot in which the falling disk ultimately comes to rest.
A typical version of pachinko is shown in U.S. Pat. No. 524,475 (Wheeland), which patent was granted in 1894. This patent in fact is directed at an improvement to the game of pachinko in which the deflection pins or pegs are made of a spring material to give the falling disk an even more random travel path. Another example of a pachinko game is shown in U.S. Pat. No. 1,947,772 (Harris).
While pachinko is quite appealing to people who like to play games because of the apparently random movement of the disk as it bounces off the deflection pins and because it is possible through the glass to watch the fall of the disk, it has proven difficult to adopt pachinko to a casino gaming environment. Gaming regulators require any gaming device to result in a random determination of winning and losing events. In a pachinko game, the final destination of the falling disk is determined by the location of the deflection pins.
Even if the deflection pins are positioned in such a manner to make the disk fall as randomly as possible, the falling disk will still more often fall toward the middle of the scoring area than toward the outer ends. Older versions of pachinko attempted to adjust for this probability by making the scoring slots on the outer edges of the scoring area have a higher value than the scoring slots toward the center of the scoring area. Representative of this scoring value adjustment is the patent to Wheeland which shows the end scoring slots having a value of 5 whereas the scoring slots in the center have a value of 0, 1 and 0, respectively.
It is possible to bias the outcome of the game by positioning the deflection pins in a particular way to favor one scoring slot over the other scoring slots. It is also possible to bias the game by externally tipping the gaming device slightly by placing a wedge or shim under a leg or other support of the game. Any game that is easily "gaffed" (i.e. modified to favor the player or the house) will not be approved for use in legalized gaming establishments.